The invention concerns a nozzle support drive for water jet massaging apparatus.
Water jet massaging apparatus include a tub which is covered by a flexible support sheet for supporting a patient. The support sheet is in the form of a support foil which is stretched over the tub so as to form a support surface. In the interior of the tub, there is at least one nozzle carrier with a nozzle by which a massaging water jet is directed toward the support sheet providing for a dry water let massaging of a patient laying on the support sheet.
The at least one nozzle carrier is in the form of a nozzle carriage which is movable in the longitudinal direction of the tube along a guide structure. In most water massaging apparatus the nozzle carriage is driven along the tub by means of a motor-operated revolving pull belt, for example a toothed belt.
The nozzle disposed on the nozzle carriage is connected to a water pomp via a flexible hose for directing a massaging water jet from below toward the support sheet on which the patient is laying and which covers the tub.
In conventional water jet massaging apparatus, the nozzle is arranged on the nozzle carriage via a support structure which is movable relative to the nozzle carriage. It is arranged for example eccentrically on a driven rotating gear or on a sidewardly pivotable support arm so that the massaging water jet can be moved by the movement of the nozzle carrier in the longitudinal direction of the tub and, at the same time, also by the movement of the nozzle support structure in transverse direction of the tub. The drive for the nozzle movement can be provided by a motor which is arranged on the nozzle carriage or by elements which extended in the longitudinal direction within the tube such as a toothed rack in engagement with the gear supporting the nozzle, so that the nozzle movement in the transverse direction of the nozzle carrier movement is generated by the longitudinal movement of the nozzle carriage and is synchronized with the movement of the carriage or by a motor-driven device which causes the transverse movement of the nozzle carrier independently of the longitudinal movement of the nozzle carriage.
Examples of known water jet massaging apparatus with features as described are disclosed in EP X 54 3 809 A1, EP 0 880 958 D1, DE 20 2005 008 001 U1, DE 20 2004 018 984 U1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,808 and EP 2 327 386 B1.
All of these designs however have the disadvantage, that the nozzle carrier is relatively complicated since it requires several movable parts to provide for the movability of the nozzle and the nozzle drive. The known arrangements include partially also drive motors for the nozzle and/or the carriage which are arranged on the carriage or elsewhere within the tab. This is basically disadvantageous because the tub is always partially filled with a water supply from which the pump pumps water to the nozzle. The nozzle carriage is therefore always immersed with the complete moving mechanism in water and the presence of the many moving parts increases the susceptibility to wear and failures.
EP 1 666 017 B1 discloses an arrangement wherein a nozzle is arranged fixed on a nozzle carriage which is movable along a guide track that is pivotable back and forth about its longitudinal axis so that a sideward movement of the massaging jet is generated by pivot movement of the guide track and, as a result, the pivot movement of the nozzle carriage with the nozzle which is mounted thereon. This arrangement however, has the disadvantage that the nozzle jet during the sideward pivoting no longer impacts the bottom of the support sheet in a vertical direction but at an inclination angle which reduces the massaging effect. In addition, the longitudinal movement generating mechanism for the nozzle carriage has to participate in the pivot movement of the guide track about the longitudinal axis of the guide track which again requires a motor installed within the tub or a complicated drive mechanism.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a drive mechanism for a nozzle carriage from which the massaging water jet is always directed vertically upwardly toward the cover sheet but which, nevertheless, includes only a few movable parts.